Hosted Conferencing to Exceed Traditional Conferencing by 2014

At least in Europe, every conferencing service provider of any size and almost all of the network service providers are offering unified communications services in one form or another. says Wainhouse Research. Hosted services are expected to grow faster than traditional conferencing services by 2014.

Combined, conferencing services and hosted or managed unified communications services will achieve over $4 billion in revenue by the end of 2014.

Wainhouse Research

Mobile Changes Restaurant Reservations Process

According to OpenTable, of the total 17 million seated diners during the second quarter, nearly 1.3 million came from mobile apps.

In the first quarter of 2010, of the total 15.6 million, the company seated about a million diners who came from mobile apps. Since it first started offering the mobile apps in 2009, OpenTable has in total seated around four million diners, with 2.3 million of those signing up in 2010.

For OpenTable, Mobile Means Mo Money

New Motorola Tablet PC Might Support Verizon Multichannel Video

Motorola reportedly is developing a tablet device in conjunction with Verizon Wireless that will allow users to watch television on it, including the sort of multichannel video fare Verizon fixed network customers can watch, the Financial Times reports.

The device, which will have a 10-inch screen and operate on Google’s Android software, could launch as early as this autumn in the U.S. market. The Financial Times report suggests the video features will "tie closely to Verizon’s FiOS digital pay-television service."

As typically is the case for such innovations in the video business, content rights discussions will be key. Perhaps the most-logical offering is a "TV Everywhere" service similar to what U.S. cable operators are developing, where a Verizon FiOS TV service subscriber could watch the same content on devices powered by the Verizon Wireless network, either within the Verizon wired network geographical footprint or perhaps within the Verizon Wireles footprint, which exceeds the fixed network footprint substantially.

What remains unclear is whether Verizon Wireless can rework rights agreements enough to be able to offer the equivalent of its FiOS services over the Verizon Wireless network to customers who do not live within the fixed network footprint. That of course would tend to conflict with other distribution agreements programmers have with satellite and other terrestrial providers.

Technology really isn't the issue here: content rights arrangements and compensation are the key issues.

more here

Mobile Video Revenue to Grow 23% Annually

The mobile video market is set for rapid expansion in the next few years, with revenues expected to roughly triple between 2009 and 2014, rising from $436 million to $1.34 billion, according to eMarketer.

Mobile video revenues, including direct downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported video, are expected to reach $548 million in 2010 as the population of mobile video viewers in the US grows to 23.9 million, the firm reports.

Of these three primary revenue streams for mobile video, the ad-supported component will be the fastest growing. Ad-supported mobile video revenues will post a 60 percent compound annual growth rate between 2009 and 2014.

The number of mobile video viewers who watch at least one item, at least once per month, will continue growing in the double digits for a compound annual growth rate of 22.8 percent from 2009 through 2014, eMarketer says.

Google Adds "History" Results for Android, iPhone

Google has extended the "Google Mobile Web Search" feature by adding the "history" display that has been available for Chrome users on PCs for some time. The new "history" display shows a user's past searches.

To choose one of your previous searches, just tap the result. I've found the history feature to be quite useful on a PC, but on a touchscreen mobile, it is even more useful, as it means users have a sort of "passive bookmark" capability, allowing a fast navigation to a web page without having to type in the address or do a search to find the website.

Froyo (Android operating system version 2.2) just downloaded to my Evo. So far, I haven't noticed anything different, except for a few icons changing. Of course, I haven't had time to play with it.

Search history Overview : Using Search - Google Mobile Help

Android. iPhone, BlackBerry: Growth is Not the Same As Installed Base

NPD Group has found Research in Motion remains the smartphone leader, at 36 percent market share for the second quarter of 3010. Android devices had 28 percent share of quarterly sales, and the iPhone OS was third at 21 percent.

Quarterly share reports, though, do not describe the installed base, equally important. Looked at that way, RIM, the iPhone and even Windows Mobile and Palm had higher installed base percentages in December 2009, for example.

http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100804.html

Did The iPad Preemptively Kill The US Tablet Market Like The Kindle & Nook Killed Other Ebook Readers?

The U.S. market for ebook readers is basically a choice between the Kindle or the Nook.

Can you can blame the Apple iPad for that state of affairs? Or is it the business arrangements? Ebook readers, after all, are only as valuable as the selection of available content, pricing and delivery of that content.

It might be more difficult than most of us realize to get all those elements, plus an attractive user interface and device pricing, into alignment.

Did The iPad Preemptively Kill The US Tablet Market Like The Kindle & Nook Killed Other Ebook Readers?